The Yew Tree's Foliage fatal Food to Horses. 91 



Art. VII. Some Particulars on the Fact of Two Horses dying 

 shortly after eating of the living Leaves and Branches of the Yew 

 Tree ; and others on the Fact of Two young Guinea Fowls dying 

 not long after feeding on withered Leaves of' the Yew Tree. By 

 James G. Tatem, Esq. 



Two instances have recently occurred in this county, prov- 

 ing the fatal effects of the yew tree if taken into the stomach. 

 The one to two horses belonging to a Mr. Ives, a respectable 

 farmer at Prestwood Common, near Great Missenden, Buck- 

 inghamshire ; and the other to some guinea chicks in my own 

 garden. 



From the report of the former case, by Mr. Beeson, a 

 veterinary surgeon, it appears that, on the 5th of September, 

 the trace horses of a team employed in carrying clover 

 seed were, while the waggons were shifted, put under a 

 very fine yew tree, which stood in the rick-yard ; and were 

 observed, by the carter, to crop it with great eagerness. No 

 unfavourable symptoms appeared for the space of three hours ; 

 when, having staggered a few paces, they both dropped, and, 

 before the harness could be taken off' them, were dead. 



On examining the stomach of each of the horses, after 

 death, this organ was found to be contracted to one third of 

 the natural size ; and had forced on nearly the whole of its 

 contents, a small branch of yew and a very little food being 

 only left in the stomach. The bowels of both horses con- 

 tained a considerable quantity of yew tree ; and the inner 

 cavities of the stomach and bowels were inflamed in that 

 peculiar manner which is observed to arise from the presence 

 of poison ; neither in the brain nor other organs was a change 

 from a state of perfect health observable. The other horses 

 were not affected, from not having, it is imagined, eaten any 

 of the yew tree. Mr. Beeson adds, in his letter to the editor 

 of the Bucks Gazette, from which intelligent journal the fore- 

 going account is extracted, that he has not a shade of doubt 

 that both the horses were poisoned by the yew tree. 



The second case, which occurred a few days subsequent to 

 the one above stated, was nearly as follows : — Some young 

 guinea fowl were placed in a coop, with their mother, a com- 

 mon hen, under the shade of a yew tree, the branches of 

 which were beyond their reach ; but having, it is supposed, 

 picked from the ground some withered leaves (in which state, 

 according to the Rev. W. T. Bree (VI. 48.), their injurious 

 effects on cattle are well known), they proved equally fatal to 

 these birds. In less than half an hour from their being put 

 into the garden, one of the birds was found dead : this was the 

 largest and healthiest of the four. The remaining three were 



